Although challenging a duel was normal in the academy, there was a no-kill rule in duels, so Aran knew, it wasn't a life-threatening fight.
He also knew he can never win against Renold if it was an actual battle, but since it was just a duel, he had to find something quickly.
As he thought about it, in an instant there was only one thing he can do so he decided to go with that. He soon activated the rapid blood-flowing technique and Instead of increasing his strength with the technique Aran used most of his mana to only increase his speed and also got ready to suppress the opponent's soul.
When Aran took out his sword and pointed it at Renold so the gesture of accepting a duel, without any delay, Renold instantly charged at aran and swung his sword against Aran's shoulders.
As Aran blocked that attack with his sword, he realized the strength of Renold's swing and it made him sure that he has no chance of beating him in actual combat.
Before Renold could move back and attack again, Aran immediately activated the soul suppression technique and suppressed his soul.
As Aran activated the soul suppression, Renold's movement started to get slower and as he continued to swing his sword, Aran blocked some of his attacks with his sword. He even dodged some of them but even after everything, he wasn't strong enough to swing back at Renold.
With how strong Renold was, Aran was not even a match for him with all of his strength. All he could do was move back while defending himself.
Aran had to win that duel no matter what because if he loses that duel, he knew that he will have to suffer for the rest of the year.
As Renold tried to swing his sword harder he started to feel it ba coming more and more difficult. Renold was feeling heavy and Aran was dodging all of his attacks. He couldn't figure out why he wasn't able to move faster. But he continued to try harder to swing his sword.
Aran was sure, Renold won't use his elemental attributes since he wasn't trying to just win but humiliate aran. So he didn't want to use his attribute before Aran does and everyone saying that he had to use all his strength to just beat a weakling like Aran.
Since Aran knew that Renold will choose his pride, instead of fighting him with everything, destroying his pride was the only way to beat Renold.
As Aran continued to move backwards blocking Renold's sword swings, he decided to perform his final moment because his soul was also getting weaker every second.
Aran waited for the exact moment to see an opening and when he saw it, he immediately moved backwards and let Renold openly attack him. He wanted to give a moment for Renold to strengthen his attack.
As Renold thought that he will get Aran this time and moved toward him, swinging his sword, Aran suddenly activated the true base sword technique with all of his mana and started to swing his sword and push Renold back.
As soon as Renold got pushed back for a moment and had to concentrate on defending the attacks, Aran instantly increased the soul suppression to its full capacity and Renold's soul got so weak that his movement completely slowed down. He couldn't focus on defence any more and he couldn't even stand straight and fell on his knees and immediately aran onto yes his sword swung at Renold's neck and stopped just before it touches his neck.
Everyone who was standing around them and watching couldn't understand what just happened. Since soul cultivation was extremely difficult and most of them had very weak soul cultivation, they didn't know about soul techniques so they started to wonder what just happened.
Instead of continuing the fight, Immediately Aran put his sword back in his ring and said
" We can do this again if you want to " As aran said that, he immediately turned around and walked towards Barton and Lynette.
" Stop! Where are you going? I am not done yet! " Renold started to shout but he couldn't move his legs and Aran just continued to walk as if he didn't mind him.
Slowly Renold's body started to get back to normal. When Renold looked around at the other students and he felt that no one had ever humiliated him like that before, he was furious. So he got up and activated his fire attribute.
When everyone saw it, they got shocked because Renold's attribute was not only strong but he had Blue flames. Flames that fire cultivators only obtain by breaking the basic limits of the yellow flame.
Renold wielded his sword which was covered with his blue flames and charged at aran as he shouted
" Don't Run Away From me, you bastard!"
Everyone around them saw his blood thirst and they started to worry about what was going to happen but Aran, who was walking away; just turned around and stood tall like he doesn't care at all.
Everyone began to wonder why is he is not even trying to defend himself. Some of them thought that he might have given up knowing that he can't do anything.
As Renold got close to Aran, suddenly professor Fedric appeared out of nowhere, between them and stopped Renold by punching him. As Fedric punched him, Renold fell on the floor again.
" The fight is over. So stop! " Fedric said.
Every new student there started to wonder why the professor appeared suddenly and stopped Renold since the duel wasn't ended. Renold immediately got up and said,
" What do you mean stop? I won't stop! I am not done with him! "
He was still furious and it seemed like he was even ready to fight the professor. As Aran saw that, he also walked towards them.
" You challenged him to a duel and gave up! so, you can't fight him anymore. It is against the rules! " Fedric calmly tried to make him understand but it don't seem like Renold was ready to accept that.
" I haven't given up, I just kneeled by mistake. "
As Renold said that, Aran had gotten close to him and replied,
"What's the point of having all this power, when you don't even know the basic rules? "
Soon the professor also joined him saying,
" Yes, the academy has its own rules, It doesn't matter if it's a mistake or not. you kneeled! That means you gave up and lost."
" So what? I challenge him for a duel again" Renold shouted as he wasn't ready to stop yet and everyone started to wonder if the duel was going to continue.
" You can't challenge him again. Since you were the one who challenged him and lost. You will have to wait until next year to challenge him. But he can challenge you if he wants to. That's the rule in the academy !"
" What shitty rules are these, who made these rules?"
Renold couldn't understand why there are these kinds of rules in the academy. But when he said that Aran immediately interfered.
" Are trying to humiliate the ancestors who built this academy and made the rules? "
" Renold Filbert, stop this madness. If you talk one more word then you will be punished! "
When Professor said that with a look of outrage, Renold realized, this was Aran's plan all along. So he had no choice but to accept his defeat and leave from there.
***
As Renold, left that place, the professor was curious about many things.
" When did you read the guild book ?" He asked Aran.
" Last night " Aran replied.
" When he charged at you, you didn't even flinch. So you knew, I was watching, right? "
" Maybe, does it matter ?"
" No! it doesn't. But I saw what you did there. I am surprised to see someone as young as you, using a soul technique! But remember I am always watching you! "
As the professor said that, he left from there and aran turned around and moved towards Barton.
As he went close to Lynette, she was delighted to know that nothing happened.
" Thank you. If he had challenged me, I would have suffered a heavy loss." She said to Aran.
" You should Thank him, he was the one who asked me to help you, " Aran said pointing to Barton.
"That's right but still, brother is the one who fought. I didn't do anything! "
When Barton said that, Lynette thanked both of them with a smile.
" Thank you to both of you, " Hearing that, Barton asked,
" I saw you in the entrance exam but I don't know your actual name. So what is your name?"
" My name is Adelina Lynette "
"That's nice. And I am Barton Cedrick and this is Aran Wilford!"
" If you are done with the introduction, Let's go. I have some other things to do after this " Aran interrupted them in the middle.
" Go where? "
When Adelina asked that, Aran said,
" We were heading to collect the Crystal badge. Where are you going ?"
" I was also going to the office. But I was going to get my library schedule for my weakly session. "
When Aran heard about the library, he suddenly changed all of his plans because the library of the academy was the primary reason why he entered the academy.
" Well, since we're also going there, we can go together, "
Ara said and Barton also accepted. Since Aran had something else to do, immediately all three of them headed towards the office without wasting any time.
****
As all three of them went to the office, they saw that many others were there to get their crystal badges and before collecting his badge, Aran went with Adelina to know his scheduled library time and Barton also followed.
Although the library of the academy had hundreds of high-ranked martial technique books, the first-year students were only permitted to enter the first floor of the library which only had the first four ranked technique books.
Also, the students of the academy were only permitted to enter the library for a one-hour session, a week. So it was extremely difficult for everyone to learn high-ranked techniques.
As Adanina asked an office staff about their scheduled time, he looked at some papers and gave them their schedule for the one-hour session. After collecting that, they went to collect their badge and the spirit stones which they had earned by selling soul stones they got in the entrance exam and left the office.
As all three of them went outside, Aran said
" I have some important works to do, so I will meet you tomorrow! "
Since he had completely used up his soul energy, he was completely exhausted, so he had to go back to his room and summon the soul energy to restore his soul.
" Oh brother, it's still daybreak. The classes will start in two days and we can't look around after that. Do you really have to leave ?" Barton asked.
" Sorry brother, I have to leave for some reason, We can look around tomorrow "
" If you are talking about looking around the academy, can I join you?" Adalina asked.
" Of course, you can join us. So, let's meet tomorrow. don't forget! " Aran said and left from there. After him, the other two of them also left.
Aran went straight to the diner and took some more food because he had no plan of coming out of his room until tomorrow. As he went to his room, he sat down and started summoning the soul energy. After using the soul technique back to back for two days, his soul had gotten very weak and he need to fully regain his energy.